Monday Morning Thoughts

posted by BH

If you watched any of the Bradley/Pittsburgh game yesterday, you might have noticed CBS's running clock and score at the bottom had the word "BRAD" placed over the word "PITT."

Speaking of the tournament, picks that looked promising at one time now look a bit sketchy. In the first round I was 24-8, but in the second round I was 10-6. At best I can go 6-2 in the next round. All my Final Four teams are still in, though they've all looked beatable. UConn, the team I've got winning it all, has been lucky to get to the Sweet Sixteen.

I thought the Giants looked ready two weeks ago. Now I'm not so sure. Matt Morris gave up four runs in six innings and threw 93 pitches in a loss to the Brewers yesterday. Felipe Alou was saying all the usual spring training stuff after the game, like "It's his first time here, and [it's tougher] for a breaking-ball guy." 6.00 ERA tougher? I know it's spring, and I know the altitude in Arizona is an issue for finesse-ish guys, but it's still a little troublesome.

Pedro Feliz has become a cautionary tale for teams letting their players compete in the World Baseball Classic. He had six at-bats for the Dominican Republican over a period in which he would have had closer to fifty with the Giants. The idea of him being ready for opening day seems a stretch. Guh.

I've noticed that Ovaltine seems to be hitting the marketing pretty hard lately, but I'm having a hard time figuring out who they think their target market might be. The ads are really bad, usually with kids outside saying something like, "Mom's making rich chacolatey Ovaltine," then cutting to the Mom talking to her friend about full of vitamins Ovaltine is. The ads are sandwiched between spots for "The Scooter Store" and internet health care companies. So it seems that the company's goal is to attract cheesy kids, stupid Moms, and old people. I have to admit, it's ambitious. In the immortal words of Kenny Bania, "Why don't they call it 'Roundtine?'"